Well, I'm back! Straight into another stressful ceremony for Sam, this time a medal parade at Catterick for all his mates... I just kept thinking (wishing?) that my Sam was there. I think it brought the reality home to me more than than almost anything else I've attended has done.
Anyway, must move on and focus. Corinna and I had an amazing trip although very emotional at times. We met up with Manseur the young burns/abuse victime the Scoots project support and also with Mariama. Both are doing very well and send there love and thanks to all involved. Both have grown almost beyond recognition with Manseur making a remarkable recovery from his injuries. One hand is terribly disfigured and bent although amazingly he does still manag o make use of it. We visited him at his compound and spent a pleasant hours or s talking to his family and seeing the new hut which we paid for in which he lives with his cousin.
We then travelled up to Basse to meet up with Mariama, now no longer the feisty, squash faced little teenager but a very beautifull self-confident young lady. The metamorphoisis was nothing short of stunning!
Corinna and I were then introduced to a 5 year old lad called Ismala who has been taken in by Boy Bah after being abandoned by his mother. As most of you will know Boy Bah suffered a fire earlier in the year, losing both his home and his restaurant. He has also ungone harrasment from the government and is at present awaiting a court appearance to hopefully have various charges against him dropped. In spite of all this he has offered his families love and shelter to Ismala. Corinna immediatley took to the lad and we have decided that we will both contibute to his keep and education via the Scoots project obviously if anybody else wishes to become involved by making regular (small) payments injto the fund just let me know.
We also left a small amount with Anita to support a 4 week old baby which was covered with boils and blisters a condition whch 4 of the womans other children have died from. It has now been diagnosed as an STD which is easily treatable with drugs which the hospital has. The problem was that the mother had no money for food so wanted to leave with her baby and go home which would have meant that the baby would certainly have died without somebodys intervention. Hopefully the baby should now make a full recovery. All achieved for the equivalent of about £20 !
With regards to the Scooters themselves, Not withstanding Crapauds comments above (which I didn't see untill my return) I was abolutly staggered to find 11 out of the 14 bikes still running at the hospital. Just 2 of them have suffered catastophic engine failures and of course Mariam's was stolen.
I took with me 2 boxes of spark plugs and 10 sets of wheel bearings which was about all I could get within my lugage allowance. You can imagine my surprise when I found that as stated by Crapaud many of the heads have been bored out to take larger plugs which are more readily available. Overall young Lamin working under the Riders for Health umbrella has done a remarkable job in keeping them on the road. Yes many (most?) are looking more than a little tired but they continue to do the work for which we supplied them on a daily basis; still helping to reduce suffering and to save lives. I didn't get one single negative coment from anyone.
I have come back with a more realistic idea of what is required by way of spares which I will bring to our meeting (once arranged) and post on the Scoots Forum which Dan is going to relaunch shortly. And there is no doubt at all that a new batch of bikes would be VERY welcome.
It also turns out that some members of Staff at the hospital have now been trained to ride "proper" motorbikes so perhaps we should look at trying to take a few suitable 125cc geared machines as well?
By my reckoning we so far have comittments from the following participants
Mr Ifan
Iain Patterdale (Horizons Unlimted) May drive backup due to Imminent Shoulder op
Ogmios
Dennis
Tom ( Cotswold Outdoor Manager - on 650GS) Filming the trip
With expressions of interest from a couple more and of course support from many for which I thank you all.
I will post again later today once I have had a chance to catch up with Anita who only got home at the weekend.
(
.
